Research overview: managing multimorbidity in senior cats

Senior cats frequently have multiple concurrent chronic diseases, such as chronic kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, osteoarthritis, dental disease, and hypertension, whose treatments can interact and sometimes conflict, requiring careful, individualized management that balances competing priorities. For example, managing hyperthyroidism affects kidney parameters, and pain control with NSAIDs requires caution in renal disease. This overview compiles the geriatric literature rather than one source, describing the common clustering of diseases in old cats, why treating one condition can complicate another, and how clinicians prioritize and integrate care to optimize overall quality of life. It matters because real-world geriatric feline medicine rarely involves a single disease, and skillful management of multimorbidity, weighing trade-offs across conditions, is central to caring well for aging cats.